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National market update

Housing Affordability Index Hits Record High

Washington, March 06, 2012 - NAR President Moe Veissi said the typical family has roughly double the income needed to purchase a median-priced home. "For buyers who can qualify for a mortgage, now is a very good time to become a homeowner.” More...Read more

February Existing-Home Sales Slip But Up Strongly From a Year Ago

Washington, March 21, 2012 - Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said, "The market is trending up unevenly, with record high consumer buying power and sustained job gains giving buyers the confidence they need to get into the market”. More...Read more

National housing indicators

Existing home sales ()

4.59 million units*

Existing home median price ()

$156,600

Housing Starts ()

698,000 units*

New home sales ()

National economic indicators

Home ownership

4th Qtr 11

66.0%

3rd Qtr 11

66.3%

The homeownership rate in the fourth quarter 2011 (66.0 percent) was lower than the fourth quarter 2010 rate (66.5 percent). The homeownership rates in the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West were not statistically different from their corresponding fourth quarter 2010 rates.

New home sales

Feb 11

-1.6%

Jan 12

-5.4%

Sales of new single-family houses in February 2012 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 313,000. This is 1.6 percent (+/- 23.9%)* below the revised January 2012 estimate of 318,000.

Source: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

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Regional market updates

View market statistics for your region.

Click on the links below to view data from two different industry sources. Choose information on local prices & state sales from any of 178 metropolitan housing markets prepared by the National Association of REALTORS® or information on sales & price activity from local area markets in 25 states prepared by Clarus MarketMetrics.

Local Sales & Price Activity

Eric Cuevas

Home Ownership matters…to people, to communities, and to America. Why? • For every two homes sold, one job is created in the U.S. • Each purchase generates as much as $60,000 in economic activity over time. Read more

Buying is now cheaper than renting in 74 percent of the nation’s largest cities. Low home prices and “rock-bottom” interest rates as well as tax advantages of homeownership are the reasons why it’s now cheaper to BUY a 2-bdrm home than to rent one. Check out this CNN Money article with the details. Read more

Disclaimer: The views, opinions, statements and/or ideas expressed in this Message Section do not reflect the ideas, policy, position, views or opinion of Move,Inc.

Consumer tips & hot properties

Appeal Your Property Tax Bill

To successfully appeal your property tax bill, you first need to do a bit of sleuthing into your real estate assessment. More...
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What You Can and Can’t Deduct When You Work From Home

Working from home can offer many advantages including tax deductions. Just take care what you try to write off for your home office on your return. More...
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Spring Cleaning, Room by Room

What you need to know to give each room a thorough springtime scrub-down. More...Read more

What Lifestyle Locales are Newlyweds Flocking to?

According to Inman News, "Rental search site Rent.com has identified 10 metro areas it says are 'wonderful places to create a fun and affordable lifestyle' for those just tying the knot". More...Read more

What's it Like to have Celebrity Neighbors?

HGTV's Front Door give us a detailed picture of "the ups and downs of living in a city frequented by the rich and famous". More...
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Housing Trends eNewsletter is filled with U.S. Census Bureau key market indicators, consumer videos, blogs, a real estate glossary, mortgage rates and calculators, consumer articles, real estate radio, realtor.com® local community reports and local and national real estate sales and price activity provided by local MLSs and the National Association of REALTORS®.

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